The European Union will continue pursuing a bilateral investment agreement with China this year, and objects to the protectionism rising worldwide, the bloc’s top envoy in Beijing said on Wednesday. Britain’s exit from the EU would not affect the relationship between Europe and China, the EU ambassador to China, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut, said. Schweisgut said the EU wanted more open and reciprocal market access from China, and that the bloc’s priority this year was to finalize the core items of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, with the aim of closing the deal in 2020. The two sides have been negotiating the agreement since late 2013, the South China Morning Post reports. Against the backdrop of possible protectionist measures from new US President Donald Trump, the EU would continue favoring an open market.
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